We had the whole school involved -- 222 kids, 33 staff and our Superintendent, Mr. John Gaiptman reading to one of our K classes. Thanks to Mr. Gaiptman, we now have a new book with a cute story and fabulous illustrations … Bats at the Library.

Our grade 1 teacher came and said that it was just magical having the Grade 5's read to her 1's and could we do it again … perhaps once a month. The answer, of course, is YES!!

Canyon Heights Elementary, School District 44 (North Vancouver) had 400 students and 20 staff partipating in DEAR today.

Our district T/L's attended an afternoon with Stephen Point, our Lieutenant Governor, speaking about literacy and the importance of libraries. He spoke about the importance of reading in the lives of young people, and how one book had changed the course of his life.

Pitt River Middle in Port Coquitlam had 370 students and staff drop everything and read. Students enjoyed the time to read whatever they wanted. The library also had a reading lunch. Hot chocolate and cupcakes were served. Everyone enjoyed the event.

Merritt Secondary School had 627 students and 41 teachers, and 7 SEA's reading...all without the Principal's permission to run DEAR. Actually, I got permission after I had the support of all staff at a staff meeting vote, oops!...how could he say no.

Royal Oak Middle School 600 students and 63 staff members (both BCTF and CUPE). Non-teaching staff joined students in the classrooms. We created a bulletin board showing all classes reading.- Brian Russell, teacher-librarian.

École Lansdowne Middle School in Victoria, SD61: 520 students and 35 staff participated in DEAR today. The halls were so quiet, and a quick glance in classrooms revealed bowed heads over books engrossed in their reading. It was awe-inspiring!From Teacher-Librarian Leslie Waters

We dropped everything and read from 11-11:20 Monday, then discussed reading and books for 5 minutes. Then we welcomed His Honour, Steven Point, the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia to our school to celebrate First Nations Literacy with 1100 + of us at Carson Graham Secondary School in North Vancouver. We invited community members and our elementary feeder schools to celebrate as well. It was a fabulous day! His Honour's message: Reading can change your life.

In Richmond, 19 schools participated in DEAR for National School Library Day, including 3 high schools. Our DRC/LAC also read for 20 minutes. These means almost 6,000 students did DEAR! and all the adults too!

Herbert Spencer elementary in New Westminster has 300-400 students.We had a great time doing DEAR, however, we had to change the time as we had the "Pumpkin Run" in the morning. So, we read together as a school from 1:05-1:20. It was Great! But, even more exciting was our Literacy Week last week! We had several guest readers from the community, buddy reading, poetry reading, a fabulous assembly, pyjama day and our French and English book fairs. It was a huge success! Thanks so much for all of your hard work!

Richard McBride elementary school in New Westminster, with a population of approx. 319 students participated in DEAR at 9:00 a.m. on Oct. 27th. All reports are that it was a very peaceful, enjoyable time.

Beairsto Elementary School in Vernon SD #22 had 540 students plus 35 adults who work in the building all participating. There were many positive comments on how when everyone decided to read at the same time how peaceful it seemed in the school.A great success!Debra GreenTeacher-librarian

I was fortunate to be able to attend Ms Teiche's school library event with Hon. Stephen Point. This event was a Coalition-sponsored afternoon celebration of Literacy and School Libraries at Carson Graham in North Vancouver. The Honourable Steven Point spoke to students about the importance of reading. Asked by one what reading had made a difference in his life, His Honour quipped, "Mad Magazine"! In a more serious tone, he talked about the gift of a book that influenced his decision to pursue a career in Law; he was given The Story of My Life by Clarence Darrow.

Thanks to CG TL Jennifer Teiche and FN Educator Brad Baker for their organizing of this event. The Catering Class had prepared a wonderful spread. Exhibits included carving in progress and displays of an upcoming play written in-house and aboriginal "reads" from picture books to novels and non-fiction. What a treat to be invited.

Here's a "snapshot" of what you could have observed in some of our Vancouver schools:

Van Horne experienced a rare silence throughout the school

Henderson featured some readers dressed as favourite storybook characters

Trudeau readers with painted faces listening attentively as firefighters read to them

Carr students camped out and read in tents; Steve Mulligan appeared here too for a reading!

Moberly invited Wally Oppal; see the picture with Wally Oppal (see blog, October 27) in the blog archives for October 27

Gladstone has silent reading every morning; they read again in the afternoon and teachers were seen nibbling the same chocolate bars as were featured here in Learning Services and elsewhere (but then a student at Gladstone had designed them, so that made it okay to eat chocolate!)

Tupper students got their heads into the brand new school library books

Templeton stopped everything from 10:30 - 10:50 am, as agreed by Staff Committee, and it worked so well that a number of teachers will be incorporating a stop and read on a more regular basis

Kudos to Diversity Consultant Steve who is a strong supporter of our school libraries and who read six times in five schools ... drive-by reading, we called it!

Approx. 900 students and 40 teaching and support staff joined the administrators to drop everything and read.

Hundreds of students at Kelowna Secondary School dropped their typical academic rigors to celebrate the value of a strong school library by simply reading. In the typically hectic school day, students are always reading. They read from textbooks, teacher handouts, powerpoint presentations, internet web pages, email messages and teacher blogs. We all take the task for granted and forget the core value of the skills these reading episodes provide our youth. Studies over and over again prove that reading is the primary skill youth need to succeed in life- especially our modern information age.

McGirr Elementary in Nanaimo, B.C.- 385 students, 22 staff, several parents, two trustees and two SD #68 senior administration all read together. Two students were featured on the front page of the local paper the previous Friday, in a promotional writeup.Thanks Karen and other supporters, from Katherine Miller, teacher-librarian.